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Jamie Hamilton going into Colorado Dugout Club Baseball Hall of Fame

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Sunday, January 9, 2011

Jamie Hamilton has been involved in baseball at all levels, and is being recognized for his contributions by a Hall of Fame.

The National Junior College World Series chairman will be one of 15 people inducted into the 2-year-old Colorado Dugout Club Baseball Hall of Fame on Friday night at the Hyatt Denver Tech Center in Denver.

“I am honored and humbled,” Hamilton said. “I am lucky I’ve been influenced by a lot of great baseball people like Bus Bergman and Sam Suplizio.”

Hamilton, though, has contributed much more to the sport of baseball than as the JUCO World Series tournament director the past eight years.

He was an NAIA All-American and an academic All-American for Mesa State College in 1978. The second baseman signed as a free agent with the California Angels that same year and played five years in the minor leagues, finishing in Class AA before retiring in 1982.

Hamilton returned to Grand Junction and served as the Mavericks assistant baseball coach for four seasons before joining the JUCO World Series tournament committee as the co-director of tournament play. He filled that role for 18 years until 2003 when he took over for Suplizio as the tournament chairman.

“It’s nice to be recognized for coaching,” Hamilton said. “I was lucky in the fact I coached Darrel Akerfelds and Mark Martinez. Akerfelds is still in the big leagues as bullpen coach with the (San Diego) Padres. Martinez is the San Diego State assistant coach. I still talk to them.”

Butler is the University of Northern Colorado’s winningest baseball coach with 416 victories in 26 seasons (1941-1967). He led the Bears to 25 consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles and nine College World Series appearances.

Former major league pitcher George Frazier, the current television color commentator for the Colorado Rockies, will be the keynote speaker at the banquet.

Tickets for the banquet can be purchased for $30 apiece. For more information, contact Colorado Dugout Club representative Mike Letofsky at 303-809-0132.